Hypochondriasis

The newly approved Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) contains many revisions, but few are as sweeping as those involving somatoform disorders. In the updated edition, hypochondriasis and several related conditions have been replaced by two new, empirically derived concepts: somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder. They differ markedly from the somatoform disorders in DSM-IV. To meet the criteria for somatic symptom disorder, patients must have one or more chronic somatic symptoms about which they are excessively concerned, preoccupied or fearful. These fears and behaviors cause significant distress and dysfunction, and although patients may make frequent use of health care services, they are rarely reassured and often feel their medical care has been inadequate. Patients with illness anxiety disorder may or may not have a medical condition but have heightened bodily sensations, are intensely anxious about the possibility of an undiagnosed illness, or devote excessive time and energy to health concerns, often obsessively researching them. Like people with somatic symptom disorder, they are not easily reassured. Illness anxiety disorder can cause considerable distress and life disruption, even at moderate levels. Freeing patients and doctors The new classifications have been criticized as overly broad and likely to lead to increased mental health diagnoses in the medically ill. But "People who have reasonable health concerns will not...

What Is Illness Anxiety Disorder? Illness anxiety disorder (IAD), formerly known as hypochondriasis, is a condition marked by an excessive fear of having a serious medical condition despite having few or no symptoms. People who have IAD often go to doctors about symptoms they believe are linked to a medical problem or may believe that mild symptoms are more serious than they really are. • Avoiding people or places out of a fear of contracting an illness • Constantly searching the internet for information about symptoms and health conditions • Constantly talking to others about health problems • Distress that is significant enough to impair normal daily functioning • Fear that physical sensations are caused by a serious medical disease • Feeling nervous and obsessed with frequently checking health status • Heightened awareness of minor bodily symptoms such as headaches, joint pain, or sweating • Making doctor's appointments to check up on mild symptoms or normal body functions • Significant distress over the possibility of being sick Diagnosis Illness anxiety disorder is often diagnosed after physical examinations and lab tests return normal results, but the person remains preoccupied and anxious about an underlying health condition. Diagnosis of IAD is based on the person's symptoms, medical history, exam results, and accompanying mental health symptoms such as • Nosophobia: Both illness anxiety and The difference is in the exact nature of the fear. Nosophobia is the fear ...

Written by Last updated October 10, 2020 Hypochondriasis - or as it is now referred to as "illness anxiety disorder" - is a type of anxiety that is often misunderstood. It goes by many casual names, the most common being "hypochondria" or "health anxiety." It comes in many different types, in terms of how people think about that health anxiety and the symptoms it causes. In this article, we'll introduce hypochondriasis and discuss some of the ways to treat it. How to Understand Hypochondria The reality is that it really should be broken out into types. The following represent some of the "types" of hypochondriasis but note that these aren't medical or psychological terms, but rather a way to break down examples of what people experience. Type 1: Placebo Hypochondria Those that refer to the casual, layman, and media influenced idea of hypochondria focus on this idea of hysteria. For example, a person may watch a news report about a deadly virus and immediately think that they have that virus. This type of hypochondriasis seems to happen to all types of people - not only those with anxiety - and it's not necessarily the most common type of hypochondria in terms of those that need psychological intervention. The problem here is one of placebo. People start to feel the way that they expect to feel if they had a disorder, or worry that they may have it simply because they expect to have it. It has a lot in common with the next type of hypochondriasis, but it should be noted tha...

Hypochondriasis is no longer a diagnosis according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition ( DSM-5).Instead, approximately 75% of individuals previously diagnosed withhypochondriasis are subsumed under the diagnosis of somatic symptom disorder. The remaining 25% have high health anxiety in the absence of somatic symptoms and are classified as having illness anxiety disorder. Both somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder are classified in the DSM-5 under Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders. [ The health preoccupation diagnostic interview has beendetermined to have sufficient inter-rater reliability for somatic symptoms disorder and illness anxiety disorder (kappa of 0.85; n=104). [ DSM-5, somatic symptom disorders all share a common feature: the prominence of somatic symptoms associated with significant distress and impairment. [ A cognitive model of illness anxiety disorder suggests that patients misinterpret bodily symptoms by augmenting and amplifying their somatic sensations. Patients also appear to have lower-than-usual thresholds for, and tolerance of, physical discomfort. For example, what most people normally perceive as abdominal pressure, patients with illness anxiety experience as abdominal pain. When they do sustain an injury (eg, ankle sprain), it is experienced with significant anxiety and is taken as confirmation of their worry about being ill. This may be due to a tendency among patients with illness anxiety...

Hypochondria, or hypochondriasis, is a condition of extreme, preoccupying worry about having a medical disease or developing an illness. Patients experience not only distressing somatic concerns (bodily complaints) that are unexplained medically but abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behavior. For example, patients typically have persistent beliefs about the seriousness of normal bodily sensations and spend excessive amounts of time pursuing a diagnosis of their physical concerns. Their distress is real. Although hypochondria is a term widely understood, it is not an officially designated term. Instead, the name In both cases, psychological distress seeks expression in physical symptoms and sensations, and both types of patients are frequent users the medical care system, although a subset of those with illness Almost everyone worries intermittently about illness. Somewhere between 5 to 10 percent of people are thought to have hypochondria, but doctors find their practices disproportionately burdened by such patients, who may repeatedly call with every complaint and concern. More females than males have the disorder, and it generally begins in middle adulthood. In c hildren, the disorder manifests in recurrent abdominal pain or headache. Patients with Illness Anxiety Disorder or Somatic Symptom Disorder spend a great deal of time monitoring body sensations and visiting doctors. They spend considerable time seeking health information online, feeling distressed after online he...

DSM Category: Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders Introduction IAD (Illness Anxiety Disorder) is a DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition) formerly known as somatoform disorder, and prior to that, hypochondriasis (American Psychiatric Association, 2013. IAD is a disorder involving excessive concern with one’s health in the absence of objective, verifiable evidence of a health condition (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Persons with IAD experience what has been called Health anxiety and Body vigilance (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2014). The etymology of the word Hypochondria is Hypokhondria, or under the cartilage [the breastplate], referring to the ancient Greek belief that the thoracic viscera were the source of melancholy, or sadness and worry. Hypochondria was used to mean illness without a specific cause (1839), depression, or melancholy without a real cause (1660) (Harper, 2014). Symptoms of Illness Anxiety Disorder According to the DSM-5, the symptoms of IAD include: 1) Preoccupation with the idea that one has or will get a serious illness. 2) Lack of somatic symptoms, or mild somatic symptoms, such as diaphoresis or slight tachycardia. 3) If there is a verifiable medical condition present, e.g., a benign cyst, or the patient is in a high –risk category for developing a medical condition, e.g., heart disease, but there are no current indicators of heart disease- the patient’s anxiety or concern is...

Previously called hypochondriasis or hypochondria, illness anxiety disorder (IAD) is a mental health condition in which a person strongly believes they have or will develop a serious or life-threatening illness, though they show little to no symptoms. This feeling persists even when tests or examinations show they do not have a serious condition. • Preoccupation with having or acquiring a serious illness that has been present for at least six months • Intense anxiety that you may have a serious, undiagnosed medical condition. You may spend excessive time and energy focused on health concerns, often researching them obsessively. • Physical symptoms that are not present or only of mild intensity • Not easily reassured when given evidence that you do not have this serious medical condition • Worries about your health that lead to significant disruption in your life and a great deal of mental distress • Excessive worrying that they have or may contract a serious illness or condition • High levels of • Repeated, excessive behaviors such as frequently checking their body for signs of illness, frequently taking their blood pressure, or excessively taking their body temperature • Avoidance behaviors such as avoiding doctors’ appointments and hospitals, or overuse/misuse of medical care • Lack of physical symptoms to support their fear of the illness, or mild symptoms such as sweating or a slight increase in heart rate • Disproportionate concern and anxiety over an existing illness...

Your primary care provider may also refer you to a mental health professional. He or she may: • Conduct a psychological evaluation to talk about your symptoms, stressful situations, family history, fears or concerns, and ways that your anxiety is negatively affecting your life • Have you fill out a psychological self-assessment or questionnaire • Ask you about alcohol, drug or other substance use • Determine whether your illness preoccupation is better explained by another mental disorder, such as somatic symptom disorder or generalized anxiety disorder. Treatment The goal of treatment is to help you manage anxiety about your health and improve your ability to function in daily life. Psychotherapy — also called talk therapy — can be helpful for illness anxiety disorder. Sometimes medications may be added. Psychotherapy Because physical sensations can be related to emotional distress and health anxiety, psychotherapy — particularly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) — can be an effective treatment. CBT helps you learn skills to manage illness anxiety disorder and find different ways to manage your worries other than excessive medical testing or avoidance of medical care. CBT can help you: • Identify your fears and beliefs about having a serious medical disease • Learn alternate ways to view your body sensations by working to change unhelpful thoughts • Become more aware of how your worries affect you and your behavior • Change the way you respond to your body sensations and...