Hypochondriac neurosis
Hypochondriac neurosis is a condition in which a person pays pathologically close attention to his health. The disease is characteristic mainly for women, but it can also develop in men. The age category of patients is 30-40 years old or elderly. The patient may have obsessive thoughts about the presence of a serious illness, which are based on signs of a somatic and physical nature and are not the causes of violations.
The content of the article:
Causes of hypochondriac neurosis
Classification of hypochondriac neurosis
Symptoms of hypochondriac neurosis
Diagnosis of hypochondriac neurosis
Treatment of hypochondriac neurosis
Prognosis and prevention of hypochondriac neurosis
Hypochondriac neurosis
Even with good test results, the patient is not convinced that his health is out of danger, and the lack of confirmation of an imaginary diagnosis is perceived as hiding the truth from him. As a result, hypochondriac neurosis provokes a state of persistent confidence in incurable.
Over time, the perception of reality is disrupted, the patient is dominated by thoughts about death and fears associated with it. Going to all kinds of tests and examinations turn into an obsession. Sometimes this neurosis is really combined with some kind of disease, but its symptoms, as a rule, are extremely exaggerated by the patient and are perceived by his psyche as a violation incompatible with life. Due to constant nervous tension, the autonomic system suffers, which eventually undermines the work of all internal organs.
Causes of hypochondriac neurosis
A number of factors are considered as the reasons why hypochondriac neurosis can develop, one of which is increased suspiciousness and a tendency to suggestibility. Hypochondria can develop only from the fact that a person will receive strong impressions from a story about a disease. Sometimes the development of hypochondria begins with caring for a seriously ill relative and negative emotions due to his suffering.
An important role is played by such a factor as diseases suffered in childhood. Such events leave a mark on the psyche, and the child can no longer help but be afraid of the return of a terrible disease.
Another factor is hereditary predisposition. There is a significant risk of developing hypochondriac neurosis in those patients whose closest relatives suffered from this disorder. Also at risk are lonely people who do not have permanent employment and communication with others.
Classification of hypochondriac neurosis
Hypochondriac neurosis is divided into 5 types depending on the symptoms:
Obsessive neurosis
Patients suffering from this type of disease realize that their fears for their health are overly exaggerated, but they cannot get rid of them. Watching a movie with a story about a disease, a careless phrase of a doctor or an acquaintance can cause such a condition. This neurosis is mainly characteristic of psychasthenics.
Astheno-hypochondriac syndrome
People with this disorder are convinced that they are extremely seriously and terminally ill. They complain of weakness, headache and other similar symptoms. As a rule, such patients are extremely insecure, impressionable and withdrawn, and their circle of interests is very narrow.
Depressive-hypochondriac syndrome
Patients with this type of neurosis have a personality disorder that combines health anxiety with super-valuable hypochondriac ideas that can be corrected with great difficulty. Their symptoms are made up, they themselves are unsociable and constantly depressed. Such a character sometimes becomes the cause of suicidal behavior on the basis of ideas about an incurable disease.
Senesto-hypochondriac syndrome
Among the symptoms of this disease, the manifestation of senestopathic disorders prevails over other signs. Such patients fear for their lives because of an imaginary lesion of vital organs. When no medical diagnostic method confirms their beliefs, they change the doctor and ask him for a new examination.
Anxiety-hypochondriac syndrome
Severe stress and the disorder of the nervous system caused by it can provoke this pathological condition. Patients with such a neurosis are afraid of getting a serious illness, are in a state of permanent nervous tension and direct all their thoughts to detecting symptoms of AIDS, cancer and other diseases.
Symptoms of hypochondriac neurosis
The hypochondriac type of neurosis is characterized by patients’ confidence in the presence of a fatal disease. Among the described symptoms are weakness, malaise and other signs of various pathologies. As a rule, patients check with medical reference books, after which their confidence in the presence of the disease grows stronger.
A typical sign is the statements of patients that the results of their tests are not accurate, and the attending physicians are inattentive and incompetent. The state of extreme discontent extends to all spheres of life, and in general the patient’s character becomes irritable and short-tempered.
Diagnosis of hypochondriac neurosis
To identify a hypochondriac neurosis in a patient, the doctor conducts a detailed conversation with him about his condition, listens to complaints. Further, the information obtained should be compared with the results of the survey and all the analyses performed. These are various types of blood and urine tests, an electrocardiogram and other measures assigned at the discretion of a specialist.
Based on the data obtained after the examination, the doctor makes a conclusion about the condition of the patient’s body. If necessary, additional examinations may be prescribed, the list of which includes ultrasound diagnostics, X-ray examination, consultations of specialists of a narrow profile.
If, according to the results of all the checks carried out, doctors do not find any pathologies of internal organs in the patient, he is referred to a psychotherapist to confirm suspicions of hypochondriac neurosis.
Treatment of hypochondriac neurosis
The process of treating hypochondria is complex and requires an integrated approach in several stages. Measures to combat this disease are divided into psychotherapeutic and medicinal. Among the first is the consultation of a psychotherapist aimed at correcting the patient’s perception of his health and reprogramming it from negative to positive. In addition, with the help of psychotherapy, the optimal way to deal with constant stress is chosen, in which hypochondria often develops. Working with a psychologist helps to ease the patient’s fears and help him regain self-confidence. When obsessive fears appear, the patient is shown hypnosis sessions.
Drug treatment is carried out with the help of antidepressants, sedatives and tranquilizers. These drugs are used when neurosis occurs with accompanying dysphoria and anxiety disorders. It is impossible to ignore the development of these mental pathologies, since in this situation the disease can transform into a severe hypochondriac syndrome.
Prognosis and prevention of hypochondriac neurosis
Preventive measures that could be guaranteed to prevent hypochondriac neurosis do not exist in modern medicine. Since, as described above, this neurosis develops mostly in single people who do not have permanent employment and goals in life, it can be assumed that the prevention of this disorder consists in an adequate work and rest regime, the presence of hobbies, social circle and life aspirations. Keeping a diary as a means of relieving mental stress gives a good effect.
The prognosis of hypochondriac neurosis is relatively favorable, but this does not mean that this pathology does not require any treatment. If the disease is ignored, it develops into much more serious mental problems. Such patients, as a rule, do not see any future in front of them, suffer from severe depression and often think about death, and painful symptoms turn into an integral part of their personality.
